Whiteville Wolfpack versus East Columbus March 29, 2022:
The Whiteville Wolfpack beat the Gators of East Columbus 9-7 at Legion Stadium. Early on, the game was not as close as the score would indicate. Ty Lawson was on the mound for the Wolfpack and pitched five strong innings of near perfect ball. He gave up only two hits and struck out 11. Cody Etheridge came on in the sixth inning and made quick work of it. Whiteville brought in Thatcher Rooks to pitch in the seventh inning with a 9-0 lead. Rooks had a tough time finding the plate and getting outs, there were a few miscues by the Wolfpack defense that also helped extend the inning for the Gators. Rooks gave up seven runs for Whiteville. Ashton Hammonds was brought in with two outs and quickly struck out the next batter, putting an end to the late game rally by the Gators.
The Whiteville bats were hot on this chilly night, scoring nine runs. The inning started with a Bud Baldwin single over the short stops head, leaving Baldwin on second after a bobbled ball in the outfield. Luke Odham hit a sacrifice fly moving Baldwin to third base and the scoring started when Ty Lawson hit a deep sacrifice fly to center field, scoring Bud Baldwin from third base. The Wolfpack scored three runs in the bottom of the second on an RBI single to right field over the second baseman’s head by Grayson Creech, an RBI double by Grayson Bell to right field left Grayson on third base after an error by the right fielder. A wild pitch brought in Bell making the score 4-0 after two innings. The Wolfpack scored three more runs in the fourth inning. Will Fisher led the inning off with a walk and stole second. Grayson Creech made it on base due to an error on the second baseman, scoring Fisher from second. Grayson Bell was then hit by a pitch putting runners on first and second for Kyler Dowless who hit a 2 RBI double down the third base line, making the score 7-0. Whiteville added a run in the fifth when Sam Inman legged out an infield single on a ball hit deep in the hole at third base. Inman stole second base with ease and crossed the plate on a Luke Odham walk with the bases loaded. Whiteville also scored in the sixth inning when Kyler Dowless walked, then crossed the plate when Grayson Bell was hit by a pitch with bases loaded. That would make it 9-0 before the flood gates would open on Thatcher Rooks, giving up 7 runs in the top of the seventh inning.
Whiteville travels into the Swamp to take on East Columbus on Friday. The first pitch is scheduled for 7pm and the pre-game coverage starts at 6:45 on Kool-FM. You can the away game updates on Kool 103.9-FM radio and streaming at www.Kool1039Radio.com
– Vinny Pagano is the Sports Editor for Columbus County News and Sports Director for WTXY Kool 103.9FM & AM1540. Join Vinny every Saturday mornings at 10:30am on WTXY AM1540 & KOOL 103.9FM for “In The Sports Zone”, a weekly sports talk podcast, covering the world of professional, college, semi-pro and the local sports world. In The Sports Zone is also available on Spotify, and other Podcast sites. Local Sports stories, as well as questions and comments can be submitted to Vinny at sports@kool1039radio.com
